Safety device



Patented Juani, I192:9.-

l?) STA I f *Laws TasA PATENTNOEFCE."

' RALPH B. coNaY, or Honsiziatnans,y NEW vom;

SAFETY' DEVICE.

' application and April 27,

This 'invention vrelates tov safety. devices and more particularly to -a reflector which cnl ' maybe worn by a. person-or attached tothe rcar of a wagon or. other vehicle and by reflecting rays 'from `the headlights of. an

automobile prevent danger due to the driver 7 of an automobile failing to see a person or vehicle ahead .of liim. ItV very. often hap- -peus that on dark nights the driver of. an

automobile moving along a road= will fail to sce a p'crsomor unhghted 'vehicle ahead of him in' tin'ieftoavoid a collision, and it is, tl1c1efore, one" object'of the inventionto provide-1 a device whicl 1 maybe secured to' thef-back of-"favehicle or 'to-a 'person by aA waist-encircling strapland by' 'reflecting the rays froin the' headlights of .an automobile `warn4 the driver thereof and vpreventfcolhsions. y ,i -Anthcr object of the Ainvention is to pro- 'vide-the'-device' wit-l1 an improved reflector havinga multiplicity yof surfaces disposed in such angular relation -to each other that therewill be'no ,danger of the rays of light driver of the automobile. f

reflected therefrom not being seen by. the

Another object of the invention is to mounty the retlector in a frame or-casing l safety device in endelevation;

which will' serve to protect it from being bentoutof the proper shape and also prei vent it from uickly becoming tarnished.,A

.AnotherobJejct fof thenvention is to so' formvv the casing' that av sheet ofycolored glass may serve as a closure for one end y thereof and thereby cause the device to reflect a red light which will serve very effectively as a warning tothe driver of. an automobile.

`A`The invention is illustratedl in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure.v 1 is a viewshowing the improved be applied to -a vehicle instead of a person.

The safety device l constituting the subject-matter of this invention includes a casing preferably formedof metal and havlng an inner wall 1 and a marginal wall 2 which 1927. serial No. 186,996.

extends.; about the periphery of the wall 1. The casing is open at its outer end and ad' jacent thisopen outer end of the casing the? peripheral wall 2 is offset outwardly to form a seat 3 and further bent to forma lip et disposedin overhangng'relation to the seat 3, i

as shown in Fig.- 2., Eyes have been shown carried by the wall'l in Fig. 2 so that a v waist-encircling belt 6 mayA be slidably connected with the casing, and this belt is providedwith a buckle 7 so that the belt may be secured about thel waist of a person and support the casing against the persons back. "hen so applied, there will be no danger of 'the driver ofan automobile failing to-see aperson walklng upon a road ahead of him as I the rays from the headllghts of the antoniobile will be refiected in ajinanner to be more fully explained and thereby give ample warning. In'l Fig.' 4, the eyes' 5 areomitted and a sp1-ing clip Ssubstitnted therefor. This clip 8 which is substantially U-shaped is formed of resilient wire and has its arms bent to provide coiled springs 9 from which extend tin} ;ersv 10 firmly secured to the wall l of thecasing bv snia-ll brackets 11.- A. casing provided with the clip 8 may be readily applied to Athe rear portion of a horse-drawn vehicle .or'the like and serve as` a rear light to be illiuninated4 by rays. from the headlights o f an approaching automobile. It will be obvious that the casing may be so desired and thereby permit it to be used either as a safety appliance fora person or as a rear light for a horse-drawn vehicle.

A reflector V12 is disposed within the casing and is preferably formedmf sheet metal havinga shiny surface, although other materials maybe employed and covered with ai substance which will reflect light. The reflector is'staxnped or molded to provide a multiplicity 'of surfaces'disposed in angular relation to each other in order to provideja present -form theA intermediate portion of the reflector is' star-shape and tapers towards Provided with both the eyes "5 and the clip 8 if the wall 1 to which it is secured by a fastener 13 passedthrough thecenter of the star and through the wall 1, as shown in Fig. 2. Flat 1o5' surfaces 14 form a 'border for the starshaped central portion and betweenthe. points of thestar-shaped central portion the marginal portion of the reflector has been bent to provide depressed portions 15 which 110 very efticient reiiecting surface, and in the100 together with the, ends 'of the dat -surfaces 14 bear against the annular wall` 2 of the casing and serve' to retain the reflector in' its proper position withinthe casing as well as constituting light reflecting surfaces. It

will thus be seen that the`reiiector'4 is so formed that it will veryA effectively reflect the-rays from an automobile headlight and 'there will be 'no danger ofthe driver not being warned and accidentallyV colliding with a person or vehicle ahead of him.

The open outer end of the casing isvclosed .by4 a transparencyl, preferably consisting ,ofV a sheet of glass, although Celluloid or 'the' like ymay be employed if so desired. This sheet 16 is preferably colored red, and therefore the light reflected from 'the reflector 12 will appear'. red. It'v should also b'e noted that the inner surface of the sheet 'of .glass 16 has been roughened, as shown inF1g. 2,

in order to cause the device to reflect a' bet# ter Vlight when acted upon by rays from an automobile headlight. AV gasket 17 is "dis- -posed between the glass 16 and seat 3 of the .casing and in order to hold the glass firmly against the gasket and -thereby pre#y vent the glass from movingv and also 'prevent idust from entering the casing about the edges of the glass there has been provided a retaining ring 18 formedof resilient wire and having one end portion bent, as shown at 19 in Fig.4 1, so that the split ring may be easily removed when it is necessary to clean lthe" glass or reilectorlor replace a breiten glass with a new one.V y

portions bearing,

casing andsecure at its center, .said re- Ha'ving'thus described' tl'ie'` invention, I- 'Y gclaim: j 11.1A"safety device comprising a casing. open at its .outer end, and a reflector in said. leasing tapered inwardly with its -mar inal against said walls o the flector beingcrimped to provide acentral the border being flat stitutingA augularly dis border.'

- 2. A- safety device 4comprising a casing open at lts outer end, and a reflector in said Casing taperedv inwardly with [its marginal:

portions bearing against wallslof the casing and securedvat-it'scenter, said reflector being crimped radially to 'provide ya star shaped central portion' having faces dis- .posed diagonally ofeaclr-other', a' flaty border surrounding the lsaid star-shaped portion,

posed in angular relation to each otl1er.

ln testimony whereof aiiix my signature.

'so' andV depressed portions between r-the'pointsjl of the star-shaped portion having faces'di's-v 

